PC Case Overview- Internal

Left Sidepanel

Right Sidepanel

What’s there to say? I am beating a dead horse at this point by mentioning MB500 framing. Due to the variable cable management space and the PSU shroud + HDD bay mount, such case designs are made keeping mid-end gaming PCs with max an 11″ GPU, a 240mm AIO liquid cooler an SSD and/or a single HDD. It makes sense to choose a semi-modular power supply with flat modular cables. They are reasonable semi-modular power supplies easily available for a while, such as the older Cooler Master G450M. For all steel sidepanel, I would not have included the power supply shroud to have it more open. It needs something to separate itself from the Masterbox MB500.

Motherboard Area

Left Sidepanel Area

Right Sidepanel Area

The maximum support for this case is the ATX form factor. There are cut-outs on the right side for the main cables like the 24-pin ATX and the GPU’s pin connectors. Keeping up with the traditional irrespective of its price segment, the stand-offs are not pre-installed.

PSU Shroud Area

PSU Shroud Area Left Sidepanel

PSU Shroud Area Right Sidepanel

The PSU shroud looks redundant as this sub-variant does not have a transparent side panel. The PSU shroud is riveted. There are two SSD mounting cut-outs but the case has only one SSD mounting frame. There are two more SSD mounts on the vertical area at the motherboard tray, towards the front panel. The lower portion of the case hides the power supplies and the 2x HDD tray where you can install 2.5” SSDs, too.

Unfortunately, the PC case inherits some flaws of the MB500. While the SSD cable management holes on the shroud act as a way to route through the front panel and lower USB header connections, there are no connectors towards the lower left side of the motherboard tray, typically where front panel audio and other front panel cables are connected.

Front Panel Fan Access

Front Panel Fan Mounts

Front Panel Area (Internal)

The front part of the PSU shroud has the cut-out to slip in a liquid cooling radiator. The case allows 240/280mm radiator installation only towards the front and 120mm radiator mount at the rear panel. The Masterbox MB500 does have 360mm radiator support up to 50mm thickness without fan on paper. The reason being the way K500L’s front panel is installed on the case which I’ll mention in the coming pages.

Apart from the front LED fans, there is an additional LED on the front panel. Thankfully you can unplug the cable to separate the case from the front panel shroud by unclipping this connector.

Rear Panel Area

All the PCIe slots use hex screws. The rear fan height can be adjusted. No surprises here. Having these hex screws on a higher priced MB500 is exotic.

Cable Management Area

There are plenty of cable tie loops behind the motherboard tray. If you have a semi-modular PSU with flat modular cables, you should be fine. There’s a large enough cut-out for the CPU socket area.

Included Case Fans

Front fans: 2x CM DF1201512RFLN Rifle Bearing

Rear fan: CM DF1201512RFLN Rifle Bearing

The Masterbox K500L uses three CM DF-12025-12-RFLN Rifle Bearing fans- front two with LEDs and rear for exhaust. The same model is used by other companies like Silverstone and NZXT.

Cabling

Main I/O Cables

Molex Cables

There are two Molex connectors for powering up the fans and the LED on the front panel. The three- 3 pin to Molex connector is for the front-facing fans while keeping the third reserved if you choose to get a third front intake fan. But truth be told I would have appreciated if the case used the SATA connectors. Reason being in typical systems with semi-modular power supplies, you end up using Molex cables. Just how many components use Molex now?

Installation Impressions

Technically, you can install the 360mm radiator, but the issue is the front panel installation. To install the top 120mm fan, you need to remove the front I/O to gain access to the top two mounting holes and later re-mount it. This isn’t the problem on the MB500 as its front I/O panel is mounted above its frame. The ventilation area below the front I/O should provide some legroom to pull air in.

HDD Tray Mounting

HDD Tray

Retractable Design

This is the better HDD tray compared to the one provided in a premium PC case the Masterbox H500P. This is a retractable design where you can install the HD comfortably while the one in the H500P is where its expected to bend the HDD tray and manage to secure the HDD on it. Why isn’t this on the H500P??

Setup Images

Left Sidepanel

Motherboard Area

The installation for the K500L is no different. The EPS 12V cable needs to be split and pushed through the case’s cable management hole. The cable management is functional, but it would be nice if there was a cut-out for the lower left areas. The lower area does have a habit of collecting cables especially when you install the HDD and have more connectors per cable. This was the case with the MB500 which also has the RGB controller.

The top panel wouldn’t allow you to install the radiator because of restricting depth and height with the motherboard tray. This case would be nice if it had a bit more depth and height. The case would not allow you to install any larger air CPU coolers above Noctua NH-U12S. The NH-U14S was installed on the MB500 but you cannot use the side panel.

Excerpts from MB500 review:

With the Gigabyte Z97 Gaming GT ATX motherboard with the Core i7 4790K and a Noctua NH-U12S CPU air cooler, a SanDisk Extreme II 240GB SSD and a WD 3TB Red EFRX HDD for storage, and the Thermaltake DPS G Gold 750w semi-modular flat cable power supply, the system looks full. It is a good practice to have some additional height and depth for the motherboard. You’ll not have compatibility issues with a graphics card, such as the AORUS RX 580 XTR 8G OC which is used here with the Cooler Master GPU stand with a magnetic base. For AIO compatibility, I’ve used the CM Masterliquid ML240R RGB AIO cooler which will be released and have its review out.

Personally, I would like to see full mesh frontal on the Masterbox MB500. I’ve reinstalled the CPU fans towards the top of the front frame. The lower fan installation may have its airflow somewhat restricted due to the shroud. It would be advisable to have an additional 120mm fan for the lower section, especially if you have mechanical HDDs installed at its base. Another reason I prefer such installation is the front panel. Even if its upper side does not have any grills, its shaped in a way where there is some distance between it and the fans. While the fan facing the grill pulls in the air for the graphics card, the upper mount fan should help to circulate the air intake through the memory stick and the CPU cooler.

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